Venice wants to limit mass tourism – Visitors who will not stay overnight but will take a day trip will pay 5 euros from now on
For the first time on April 25, those who want to visit Venice without staying overnight will now have to pay a small fee of 5 euros. The idea is not new and its implementation has been repeatedly postponed in recent years. “It’s a very nice idea but it doesn’t seem to be well thought out,” says Suzanne Kuntz-Saponaro, who has worked as a tour guide in Venice for years.
However, this measure also provides for many exceptions. For example, the inhabitants of the entire Veneto region are excluded. Also how can day trippers be checked and see if they have downloaded a required QR code. According to the municipality, inspectors will circulate and carry out spot checks. In fact, anyone who has not paid the fee risks a fine of up to 300 euros.
To keep the city open to the world
What the tour guide considers particularly problematic is that this specific levy is not going to directly limit the number of visitors. On average around 80,000 people visit Venice every day. An estimated 70,000 simply want to spend just a few hours there. It has been shown that they spend relatively little money, but contribute significantly to a tourism-suffocated image of the city.
The aim of the municipality is to increase the number of visitors who want to stay overnight, says the head of the Tourism Department, Simone Venturini, and for this reason she says that one must enjoy Venice and cannot exhaust it in just a few hours.
Mayor Luigi Brucknaro on the other hand speaking to the Corriere della Sera newspaper stated that the city will continue to be open to the public and that no upper limit should be set for daily visitors. The end may have a psychological deterrent character, he believes. “The city must be human both for those who live in it and for those who visit it,” emphasizes the mayor of Venice. Before the pandemic, five million tourists visited the city each year, and similar numbers are expected this year.
Smaller groups for guided tours
However, tourists do not always show the required respect and so the municipality has tightened the rules. It is forbidden, among other things, to sit on bridges and stairs, dive in the canals, walk around the city in a bathing suit, feed the pigeons or throw rubbish on the ground. Fines of up to 500 euros may be imposed in these cases. But no one knows exactly if and when tourists will be required to pay fines.
In any case, it is not the main objective of the municipality to raise money with fines on tourists. The special entrance fee is expected to bring in around €700,000 to the city’s coffers in the first year. The money will be allocated to cleaning the streets and improving the tourist offer
But that is not all. The new rules for city tours will now apply from August 1. Among other things, the size of the groups will be limited to 25 people. The experienced tour guide believes that groups should be 20 people. She works mainly with smaller groups. “Tourism is of course important for Venice, but the people who live here in the city should not suffer from over-tourism either,” he stresses.
